Colorado school shooting victim dies

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A 17-year-old Colorado high school student who was shot in the face by a teenage gunman died Saturday after eight days on life support, a local hospital said.

Arapahoe High School student Karl Pierson, 18, shot Claire Davis point blank with a shotgun on December 13, before taking his own life, in a shocking rampage that officials said lasted 80 seconds.

Officials said Pierson had been kicked off the school’s debate team and apparently bore a grudge toward the team’s coach.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share that at 4:29pm this afternoon, Claire Davis passed away, with her family at her side,” Littleton Adventist Hospital said on its Facebook page.

“Despite the best efforts of our physicians and nursing staff, and Claire’s fighting spirit, her injuries were too severe and the most advanced medical treatments could not prevent this tragic loss of life.”

The hospital said the girl’s death was “immensely heartbreaking” for the community, adding that details about a public memorial service would be released later.

The Arapahoe High shooter entered the school with many rounds of ammunition, a machete and three Molotov cocktails, and a shotgun he had purchased legally at a retail store under Colorado law on December 6, authorities said.

The latest tragedy took place just a few miles from the sites of last year’s Aurora cinema shooting that left 12 people dead and scores wounded during a Batman movie screening, and the 1999 Columbine bloodbath in which 13 were killed as well as the two student gunmen.

It also occurred just a day before the first anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting in which Adam Lanza gunned down 20 young children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Newtown attack briefly reignited the US gun control debate, triggered every time there is a major shooting, but attempts to pass tougher laws have made little headway in Congress.

Colorado has implemented a number of preventative measures from hotlines to drop-in centres meant to help intercept attacks sometime committed by the mentally ill, though the Arapahoe High shooter is not believed to have had any mental health problems.